PVD processes and CVD processes are used in the manufacture of micro and nano scale devices, such as integrated circuits. In PVD and CVD, structures are created by highly precise masks or templates. Various features are cut through the masks and the absence or presence of the features defines where deposition occurs on a substrate.
The masks are often quite thin (e.g., 10 nanometers to 30 micrometers). This makes it difficult to scale the masks to larger sizes without the risk of breaking and/or distorting the masks. Further, thermal expansion effects are multiplied as the masks increase in size, which increases the misplacement of the desired features onto the substrate. It is desirable to utilize larger masks to fabricate a larger number of devices simultaneously, because it reduces the per-device manufacturing costs.